Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle Saturday December 23, 2017

Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle was every bit as much fun as I hoped it would be. In part this is because I saw it with my sixteen-year-old daughter, but mostly it’s because the folks on-screen were simply delightful. Also, yay  video game physics! It clears my Threshold of Awesome,… Read more

The Smartest I've Ever Sounded Wednesday February 17, 2010

There's an interview with me up at The Internet Review of Science Fiction. I remember doing this late last year, but I don't remember writing half this intelligently when I responded to the questions. Either they edited it well or my memory has colored me dumber than I really was.… Read more

Three Movies in Twenty-Four Hours Friday December 21, 2018

I saw three movies in twenty-four hours. It’s possible I’m on vacation. Of course, I just spent an hour reviewing all three of them, so it’s also possible I’m actually working. My job is weird. In the interest of not pushing anybody below the fold, here are links to all three.… Read more

Battle: Los Angeles Friday March 11, 2011

Roger Ebert hated this movie. After his declaration that video games cannot be art, however, I determined that his opinion might be suspect with regards to anything less than two centuries old. In that mind-set I ventured forth, hopeful that this movie might show me a good time. It did.… Read more

Zootopia Tuesday March 8, 2016

I went in to Zootopia knowing very little about it beyond the fact that it was computer animated “anthro.” It was delightful. I’ll be buying the Blu-Ray, because this is one of those films I’ll just want to have around the house forever. I have no idea how the dyed-in-the-wool… Read more

November 28, 2000 Tuesday November 28, 2000

I redesigned the site a bit, and got rid of the ugly brown box. I used to think it looked nice and schlocky, but today I decided it just looked like crap, so I flushed it. During my redesign I realized that there is only one Schlock review in my… Read more

The Good Dinosaur Monday November 30, 2015

I love dinosaurs as much as the next person, but I was concerned about the concept for this film. Admittedly, this is mostly because to my mind any alternate history that’s missing the Chixulub impactor will also be missing any mammals larger than a rat, and certainly won’t feature sapient hominids,… Read more

Star Trek Beyond Wednesday July 27, 2016

If you love Star Trek, I’m reasonably confident you’ll love Star Trek Beyond. For reasons whose explanations would require spoilers¹, I did not quite love the movie, but I certainly liked it a lot. Sandra loved it unconditionally. It’s certainly worth the price of the movie ticket and the popcorn,… Read more

Saturday March 13, 2010

And Now, In Context Tuesday January 10, 2006

More than a few of you have emailed me to let me know that Uwe Boll, the executive producer and director of BloodRayne, has produced and/or directed other stinkers. To this I say "I know." My review of BloodRayne was contextless. I attempted to judge the film based on what… Read more

Hitman: Agent 47 Monday August 24, 2015

Hitman: Agent 47 does nothing to set itself apart from other action movies, and is kind of predictable from start to finish. Still, it didn’t actually disappoint me, so it enters my list at #17, safely above the Threshold of Disappointment. Rupert Friend’s performance as the titular 47 is pretty… Read more

Tuesday May 8, 2012

Tuesday October 7, 2014

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Saturday December 17, 2016

I saw Rogue One. The odds are pretty good that if you’re reading this, you’ve already decided whether or not to see it, and if you haven’t yet seen it you’d rather I not spoil anything. I’ll make this quick: It is a fine film beyond simply being a Star… Read more

Everest Tuesday September 29, 2015

I was pretty sure I didn’t actually need a cinematic event to convince me not to put climbing  Everest on my bucket list, but I’m extra convinced now. The film was powerful, and beautiful, and tragic. The various accounts of May 10, 1996’s disastrous Everest ascents have appeared in at least half… Read more

Arrival Wednesday November 16, 2016

Arrival is brilliant, beautiful, touching, and quite thought-provoking. It clears my Threshold of Awesome, and invites me to say very little about it lest I rob my readers of the voyage of discovery the film offers. The film is adapted from Ted Chiang’s “Story of Your Life,” which can be… Read more

Passengers Wednesday December 21, 2016

I saw Passengers on Tuesday night. Here are some words I used on Twitter: Beautiful. Powerful. Heartbreaking. Inspiring. Awesome. Chris Pratt did a fine job, and Michael Sheen was spot on, but Jennifer Lawrence absolutely owned her role, all the way to the bone. She was astounding, and without her performance the… Read more

I know about the Boll petition. You can stop emailing me now. Monday April 21, 2008

I've known for weeks now that there is a petition demanding that Uwe Boll stop making movies (like Bloodrayne, of which you may recall my review.) I've also known that Boll himself has said that he will indeed stop if enough signatures are collected. Most of you probably know this… Read more

Captain Marvel Friday March 8, 2019

Cutting straight to the chase here, I love this movie. Captain Marvel clears my Threshold of Awesome with room to spare. I’ve wanted more genre-movie Brie Larsen since seeing her in Kong: Skull Island, and Captain Marvel is better than any such thing I could have imagined. She was perfect as Carol Danvers, and… Read more

Introducing Howard Tayler... DOT COM Saturday August 16, 2014

I know, I know... dot-coms are so "turn-of-the-century," so "last decade."  Trends and missed boats notwithstanding, howardtayler.com is a thing now. It's the hub for all the stuff I do. It's like putting all of my eggs in one basket, only without the actual risk associated with dropping the basket.… Read more